Strike Teams

When major incidents such as the wildfires experienced throughout San Diego County in 2007 and 2014 occur, resources from outside of the county are requested to assist with our firefighting efforts. Likewise, when similar incidents occur outside of our community, Rancho Santa Fe and other local fire agencies may be called upon to provide assistance. These resources come in the form of a strike team or task force.

A strike team consists of five of the same type of engine, either Type 1 fire engines to provide structure protection or Type 3 brush engines to assist with fire suppression in rugged terrain. In both cases, each engine comes from a different agency to minimize strain on resources. When an agency sends an engine out, they put a reserve engine in service in its place and call in personnel to staff it. Strike teams can be gone for up to two weeks. At that point all vehicles return home or the personnel are swapped out with a new crew if needed.

In addition, some individual units can be assigned to assist with large incidents. These include battalion chiefs, water tenders, line medics, etc.

Current RSF units deployed:

November 9, 2018 - OES Engine 336 has been deployed to the Hill Fire in Ventura County as part of a strike, which also includes personnel from Chula Vista, Lakeside, Poway, and San Diego. Information on the fire can be found on Ventura County's Emergency Information page.